different between sign vs hunch

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /sa?n/
• Homophones: sine, syne
• Rhymes: -a?n

Etymology 1

From Middle English signe, sygne, syng, seine, sine, syne, from Old English se?n (“sign; mark; token”) and Old French signe, seing (“sign; mark; signature”); both from Latin signum (“a mark; sign; token”); root uncertain. Doublet of signum. Partially displaced native token.

Noun

sign (countable and uncountable, plural signs)

1. (sometimes also used uncountably) A perceptible (e.g. visibile) indication.
   • 2000, Geoffrey McGuinness, Carmen McGuinness, How to Increase Your Child's Verbal Intelligence: The Language Wise Method, Yale University Press (?ISBN), page 38:

     The sound of the Orlando dinner train whistle reminds me that it ' s already Friday, an auditory sign. Another auditory sign, a distant thunder clap, warns me of limited computer time before our evening thunderstorm moves in.

2. (Canada, US, Australia, uncountable) Physical evidence left by an animal.

3. A clearly visible object, generally flat, bearing a short message in words or pictures.

4. A wonder; miracle; prodigy.
   • 1611, King James Version, Exodus 4:17:

     And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs.

5. (astrology) An astrological sign.

6. (mathematics) Positive or negative polarity, as denoted by the + or - sign.

7. A specific gesture or motion used to communicate by those with speaking or hearing difficulties; now specifically, a linguistic unit in sign language equivalent to word in spoken languages.
   • 2007, Marcel Danesi, The Quest for Meaning:

     In American Sign Language (ASL), for instance, the sign for 'catch' is formed with one hand (in the role of agent) moving across the body (an action) to grasp the forefinger of the other hand (the patient).

8. (uncountable) Sign language in general.

9. A semantic unit, something that conveys meaning or information (e.g. a word of written language); (linguistics, semiotics) a unit consisting of a signifier and a signified concept. (See sign (semiotics).)
   • 1692, Thomas Bennet, Short Introduction of Grammar ... of the Latine Tongue:

     A Noun substantive and a Noun adjective may be thus distinguished, that a substantive may have the sign a or the before it; as, puer, a boy, the boy; but an adjective cannot, as, bonus, good.

   • 1753, Charles Davies, Busby's English Introduction to the Latin Tongue Examined, page 11:

     A Pronoun is a Noun implying a Person, but not admitting the Sign a or the before it.

   • 2008, Eero Tarasti, Robert S. Hatten, A Sounding of Signs: Modalities and Moments in Music, Culture, and Philosophy : Essays in Honor of Eero Tarasti on His 60th Anniversary:

     And some linguistic signs, like “the”, “and” or “with”, may lack apparent objects, though they are clearly meaningful and interpretable.

10. An omen.

11. (medicine) A property of the body that indicates a disease and, unlike a symptom, is unlikely to be noticed by the patient.
12. A military emblem carried on a banner or standard.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Milton to this entry?)

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English signen, seinen, seinien, partly from Old English se?nian (“to mark; sign”) and partly from Anglo-Norman seigner, seiner et al., Old French signer et al., and their source Latin sign?re (“to mark, seal, indicate, signify”); all from Latin signum (“a mark, sign”); see Etymology 1, above. Compare sain.

Verb

sign (third-person singular simple present signs, present participle signing, simple past and past participle signed)

1. To make a mark
   1. (transitive, now rare) To seal (a document etc.) with an identifying seal or symbol. [from 13th c.]

      The Queen signed her letter with the regal signet.

   2. (transitive) To mark, to put or leave a mark on. [from 14th c.]
      • 1726, Elijah Fenton, The Odyssey of Homer:

        Meantime revolving in his thoughtful mind / The scar, with which his manly knee was sign'd […].

   3. (transitive) To validate or ratify (a document) by writing one's signature on it. [from 15th c.]
      • c. 1597, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice:

        Enquire the Iewes house out, giue him this deed, / And let him signe it […].

   4. (transitive) More generally, to write one's signature on (something) as a means of identification etc. [from 15th c.]

      I forgot to sign that letter to my aunt.

   5. (transitive or reflexive) To write (one's name) as a signature. [from 16th c.]

      Just sign your name at the bottom there.

      I received a letter from some woman who signs herself ‘Mrs Trellis’.

   6. (intransitive) To write one's signature. [from 17th c.]

      Please sign on the dotted line.

   7. (intransitive) To finalise a contractual agreement to work for a given sports team, record label etc. [from 19th c.]
      • 2011, The Guardian, (headline), 18 Oct 2011:

        Agents say Wales back Gavin Henson has signed for Cardiff Blues.

   8. (transitive) To engage (a sports player, musician etc.) in a contract. [from 19th c.]

      It was a great month. I managed to sign three major players.

2. To make the sign of the cross
   1. (transitive) To bless (someone or something) with the sign of the cross; to mark with the sign of the cross. [from 14th c.]

      • We receive this child into the congregation of Christ's flock, and do sign him with the sign of the cross.

      • 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society 2012, p. 34:

        At the baptismal ceremony the child was […] signed with the cross in holy water.

   2. (reflexive) To cross oneself. [from 15th c.]
      • 1855, Robert Browning, Men and Women:

        Shaking a fist at him with one fierce arm, / Signing himself with the other because of Christ.

3. To indicate
   1. (intransitive) To communicate using a gesture or signal. [from 16th c.]
   2. (transitive) To communicate or make known (a meaning, intention, etc.) by a sign.
   3. (transitive) To communicate using gestures to (someone). [from 16th c.]

      He signed me that I should follow him through the doorway.

   4. (intransitive) To use sign language. [from 19th c.]
   5. (transitive) To furnish (a road etc.) with signs. [from 20th c.]
4. To determine the sign of
   1. (transitive) To calculate or derive whether a quantity has a positive or negative sign.

Derived terms

Related terms

• signal
• signature
• signet
• signify

Translations

Further reading

• sign in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• sign in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• IGNs, Ings, NGIs, Sing, Sing., gins, ings, nigs, sing, sing., snig

English

Etymology

Assibilated variant of hunk, of uncertain origin.

Alternatively, a derivative of hump, via an earlier Middle English *hunche, *humpchin, from *hump +? -chin, -chen (diminutive suffix), equivalent to hump +? -kin. In the sense of an intuitive impression, said to be from the old gambling superstition that it brings luck to touch the hump of a hunchback.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /h?nt?/, /h?n?/
• Rhymes: -?nt?

Noun

hunch (plural hunches)

1. A hump; a protuberance.
2. A stooped or curled posture; a slouch.

   The old man walked with a hunch.

3. A theory, idea, or guess; an intuitive impression that something will happen.

   I have a hunch they'll find a way to solve the problem.

4. A hunk; a lump; a thick piece.

   a hunch of bread
5. A push or thrust, as with the elbow.

Synonyms

• (guess): hint, clue, inkling

Translations

Verb

hunch (third-person singular simple present hunches, present participle hunching, simple past and past participle hunched)

1. (intransitive) To bend the top of one's body forward while raising one's shoulders.

   Synonyms: slouch, stoop, lean

   • 1961, Muriel Spark, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, New York: HarperPerenniel, 1994, Chapter 5, p. 156,^[2]

     Sandy, you will never get anywhere by hunching over your putter, hold your shoulders back and bend from the waist.

   • 1978, Armistead Maupin, Tales of the City, New York: Ballantine Books, “… and many happy returns,” p. 76,^[3]

     She rolled over and hunched into a fetal position.

2. (transitive) To raise (one's shoulders) (while lowering one's head or bending the top of one's body forward); to curve (one's body) forward (sometimes followed by up).
   • 1672, Edward Ravenscroft, The Citizen Turn’d Gentleman, London: Thomas Dring, Act I, Scene 1, p. 4,^[4]

     Danc[ing] Mast[er]. […] not too fast […] keep you[r] leg[s] straight, […] don’t hunch up your shoulders so;

   • 1924, Ford Madox Ford, Some Do Not ..., New York: Grosset & Dunlap, Part 2, Chapter 2,^[5]

     If you hunch your shoulders too long against a storm your shoulders will grow bowed....

   • 1938, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, New York: Scribner, Chapter 17,^[6]

     He would hunch his twisted body close and put out his gentle and crooked hand and touch the fawn.

   • 1939, John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, New York: Viking, 1958, Chapter 10, p. 142,^[7]

     They sat looking out at the dark, at the square of light the kitchen lantern threw on the ground outside the door, with a hunched shadow of Grampa in the middle of it.

3. (intransitive) To walk (somewhere) while hunching one's shoulders.

   Synonym: slouch

   • 1955, J. P. Donleavy, The Ginger Man, New York: Dell, Chapter 2, p. 9,^[8]

     […] the figure hunched up the road.

   • 1969, Ray Bradbury, “The Inspired Chicken Motel” in I Sing the Body Electric, New York: Knopf, p. 57,^[9]

     […] once we had hunched in out of the sun and slunk through a cold pork-and-beans-on-bread lunch […] my brother and I found a desert creek nearby and heaved rocks at each other to cool off.

   • 1983, Jack Vance, Suldrun’s Garden, Spatterlight Press, 2012, Chapter 18,^[10]

     […] wheezing and grunting he hunched across the room.

4. (transitive) To thrust a hump or protuberance out of (something); to crook, as the back.
   • 1679, John Dryden and Nathaniel Lee, Oedipus, London: R. Bentley and M. Magnes, Act I, p. 6,^[11]

     […] thou art all one errour; soul and body.

     The first young tryal of some unskill’d Pow’r;

     Rude in the making Art, and Ape of Jove.

     Thy crooked mind within hunch’d out thy back;

     And wander’d in thy limbs:

5. (transitive) To push or jostle with the elbow; to push or thrust against (someone).

   Synonyms: elbow, nudge

   • 1667, Roger L’Estrange (translator), The Visions of Dom Francisco de Quevedo Villegas, London: H. Herringman, “The Sixth Vision of Hell,” pp. 182-183,^[12]

     After this, we saw a great Troop of Women upon the High-way to Hell, with their Bags; and their fellows, at their Heels, ever, and anon, hunching, and Justling one Another.

   • 1748, Samuel Richardson, Clarissa, London: for the author, Volume 2, Letter 1, p. 8,^[13]

     Hickman, a great over-grown, lank-hair’d, chubby boy, who would be hunch’d and punch’d by every-body; and go home, with his finger in his eye, and tell his mother.

   • 1899, Sutton E. Griggs, Imperium in Imperio, Chapter 6,^[14]

     He let his eyes scan the faces of all the white teachers, male and female, but would end up with a stare at the colored man sitting there. Finally, he hunched his seat-mate with his elbow and asked what man that was.

   • 1974, Maya Angelou, Gather Together in My Name, New York: Bantam, 1975, Chapter 12, p. 40,^[15]

     She hunched me and winked.

   • 1986, Billy Roche, Tumbling Down, Dublin: Wolfhound Press, 1994, Chapter 6, pp. 102-103,^[16]

     […] Crunch burst through, pretending to be in Croke Park or somewhere, hunching me away with his shoulder and holding the ghost of other players at bay as he picked up the football.

6. (intransitive, colloquial) To have a hunch, or make an intuitive guess.

Translations

Derived terms

• hunchback (noun)
• play a hunch, play one's hunch, follow one's hunch

Anagrams

• Chhun